1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a control method and device for activating and deactivating a child safety lock function of motor vehicle doors.
2. Description of the Related Art
As is known in the art, rear doors of motor vehicles are frequently equipped with safety lock devices to prevent the doors from being opened accidentally by operating the inside door handles when the motor vehicle is moving. Known safety lock devices may be mechanical or electrical and, in the latest embodiments, can be activated and/or deactivated manually by means of a control button usually located on the dashboard. When the button is pressed, the safety lock device is activated to lock the rear doors, which, since the inside handles are deactivated, can then only be opened using the outside handles. To open the doors from inside the vehicle, the control button must be pressed again to deactivate the safety lock device.
Given the above operating principle, use of and, consequently, the degree of safety of children transported in motor vehicles equipped with known safety lock devices therefore depend entirely on the driver or one of the passengers, who, when necessary, must always activate and/or deactivate the safety lock device manually using the control button. The effectiveness of this type of safety lock device therefore depends on the attentiveness of the driver/passenger of the motor vehicle, who may possibly neglect to activate/reactivate it, e.g. in the event the safety lock device has been deactivated to allow a passenger to open one of the rear doors.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a control method and device for activating and deactivating a child safety lock function of motor vehicle doors to improve the degree of safety afforded by such devices.